Dear Editor,

I have read with much interest the recent articles and letters concerning the Sumter County Career Center. The one idea that has not been proposed is the consolidation of all the public schools in Sumter County into one school district. The savings to the citizens of Sumter County would be immense. If there was just one purchasing department, there would be a large savings by buying many items in bulk. There would be only one payroll department. There would be only one personnel department. The list goes on. The real benefit would come in the form of what we are all about anyway, and that is the delivery of education to the students. Programs that are small and costly in each district would be combined and therefore more efficient educationally and cost effective. There are numerous examples of programs to list: gifted, hearing & visually impaired, as well as extra curricular and many others.

I can speak on this subject from a wealth of experience. I have worked in counties that were a single school district and I worked in Lancaster County (slightly smaller than Sumter County in population) when it went from four school districts to one. It was a slow arduous process but the benefits to the students, parents, district employees and tax payers was worth all the effort expended. More recently school districts in Orangeburg County and Dorchester County have consolidated. They are most pleased with the results.

We as educators do not accept the answer from a student that something is done just because that is the way the student has always done it. It is time the elected officials do what is best for the students and the citizens of Sumter County and consolidate into one school district.

Mark D. Sweetman

Retired Educator

This letter was published in the Item , Sunday, August 31, 2003.